The above Usher lyric was my exact reaction to his performance. Everyone else did great, but like Usher. He played ALL the old school jams. Banger after banger, he did not disappoint.

Okay, let me start from the beginning of the night. Syd and I arrived DTLA (downtown Los Angeles) just before 7pm, and that was obviously ample time to stop at a bar to get a pre-concert beverage. Refreshing AF. We entered Staples Center, took our seats (in the nosebleeds, ugh) and patiently waited for this ish to start. Wait, I actually forgot that before getting to our seats, we popped in on the 100 level section to catch the end of MadeinTYO perform his banger ‘Uber Everywhere.’ They even played it back with the Travi$ Scott remix. Travvy didn’t show up though – bummer.

KEHLANI | Okay, now we’re back in the 300 level seats. Kehlani killed it. I’ve never seen her live before, so I was eager for her performance. Her vocals are on point. I sort of wish she had a stronger stage presence. Again, this was only me seeing her for the first time – I’ve seen video snippets of her other shows, and they were more lit than last night. Just my initial thoughts! But overall, she is so very talented. #girlpower

BRYSON TILLER | Now onto the baby making music maker himself, Bryson Tiller. That was my second time seeing him live (first time back in January), and he did an amazing job. I know I mentioned this in my write-up about his concert back in January, but I wish the stage lighting wasn’t so dark. It clearly has to be the vibe and look he’s going for, but it’s difficult to see him. I want to see that face! And it’s harder to capture pictures/videos. Regardless, he had the crowd (both the ladies and dudes) moving and singing. Success.

USHER | Okay. Now onto the main attraction. Seriously. U-S-H-E-R-R-A-Y-M-O-N-D. I saw him perform at his UR Experience tour, and while that was good, I thought last night’s performance was better in terms of song choices. I feel like he danced way more during UR Experience, but last night, he pulled out ALL the old songs. How can one artist have SO many hits? I’m so serious. Even the slow songs, people were jamming. Although, two people near us fell asleep – SMH. They aren’t about that concert life. Back to Usher.

From songs off of his Confessions album (listening to that now) to Looking 4 Myself to 8701 and more, he slayed it. Usher was really the first R&B artist that I started listening to, and I credit him for my love of R&B today. And while I’ve danced my whole life, again shout out to Usher who every time I see him perform or watch a music video of his, it makes me love and appreciate the art of dance even more. I mean, my very first hip-hop dance was to Usher’s ‘Yeah’ in the 8th grade. And last night he closed with that song, and I obvi remembered the dance moves to the chorus, so I got to perform that while Usher was singing it live. GOALS AF. Bucket list item – check.

Wait, and how could I forget to mention all of the special guests Usher brought out?! In order of appearance: Snoop Dogg, Wale, Young Thug, and Ice Cube. EP-IC. I actually teared up a bit when Ice Cube came out because it made me think of the movie Straight Outta Compton and NWA and the hip-hop culture in general, and I just love it so much.

Okay, instead of me continuing to ramble, peep my Snap story last night. Apologies that it’s so far away. For tonight’s Lil Wayne x 2 Chainz concert, I’ll be significantly lower and am actually thinking about doing a Facebook Live stream for parts of it. Keep an eye out! And if I don’t do that (depending on cell service and battery), def follow me on El Snap (@ergense) to see Tity Boi and Tunechi.

UPDATE 10:49PM PST: Webster Hall just tweeted, “There is no late show at Webster Hall tonight. Please get home safely.” Nooooooo! Aka the spot where Ye was supposed to have a concert. Will he have a block party instead? Hmm…

UPDATE 10:23PM PST: And we’re done, yinz! Unfortunately, Future was turned away from the radio station (I can’t wait to read more about this tomorrow), so DJ Khaled closed out the show. His night pretty much full circle – what and who he opened with at Beyonce’s Formation Tour earlier in the night in Philly, he brought them out again to close out Summer Jam. #movie. And Kanye pop-up show update – that sold out in MINUTES. A 2AM show.

UPDATE 10:18PM PST: Ty Dolla $ign! Thank you, Khaled! And we also have a tweet from Future that says “Radio station told me to leave…major pump fake.” Come again?

UPDATE 10:07PM PST: Khaled brought out Yo Gotti and now O.T. Genasis. It’s a movie right now!! And Bustaaaaa Rhymes!!!

UPDATE 10:02PM PST: Khaled brings out Rick Ross to do some throw backs plus one of my favorites ‘Pop That.’ And a Kanye concert update – SOLD OUT. Hate him all you want, but he makes move and knows what his fans want.

UPDATE 9:38PM PST: We back! A$AP Rocky has taken the stage and said he doesn’t care about ‘no lights or no fights,’ so it’s poppin!

UPDATE 9:17PM PST: Now people are saying there was no shooting. Regardless, a brawl over I’m sure NOTHING is uncalled for. Is Summer Jam over or nah? I thought Future was supposed to perform!

Okay – scary update. A brawl started on the main floor and Twitter is updating with a potential shooting. I don’t even like mentioning this type of stuff on my blog. Ugh. Hopefully that second part isn’t true!! Some people are the worst. The live stream tapped out…

Impromptu concert alert! Supposedly Kanye will be performing The Life of Pablo at 2AM EST in Manhattan.. can someone fly me in though?! But seriously. Keep checking californyinz for updates!

What I’ve seen so far thanks to live streaming. Praise technology. I’m currently sitting in my room, sipping on wine, painting my nails, and watching the show. Props to Kylie and Christian for being there – FOMO!

Main | That performance was awful. And I’m not one to completely be turned off from a set, especially a rap one. But for this I actually muted it. Next.

GOOD Music | Desiigner was on one, Ye messed up most of his own words (he admitted it and lol’ed). Respeck. And Desiigner brought out all the dance moves. I mean, how cool is it for him, this up-and-coming rapper, to be performing with I’m sure who are all of his idols?! 2 Chainz, Kanye, Pusha T, Big Sean… I can’t!

Bryson Tiller | I could watch and listen to him perform all the time. He opened his set with “502 Come Up,” which is one of my favorites. You just get the most chill vibe from him but all 60,000 people in attendance were vibing out so hard to him. And that dude who I didn’t recognize at first – that would be Fabolous. Epic. Then Tiller took a moment to talk about how amazed he is he’s performing at Summer Jam in front of 60,000 people, and that the advice he was given was that it would take one song to get him to this point. That one song being “Don’t.” The motivation is too real!

Okay, Fat Joe and Remy Ma just took the stage. More updates as this ish continues on…

Woah. Bryson Tiller is talented. I already knew that from listening to his music, but seeing him live solidified that. He was intimate and conversational with the audience, which I definitely appreciated. I had also never been to The Wiltern in Koreatown before, so that was a cool experience! I liked the venue a lot.

The lighting was a bit strange the whole time though. Cool, but strange. I think it was probably done on purpose, but you could really only see Young Tiller’s silhouette for the majority. That was only something minor! But throughout all of the concerts I’ve been to, his concert was I think one of the first where the audience’s voices overpowered the artist’s. EVERYONE knew ALL the words to his songs. It was epic. He’s only 22. AND so many big artists were there – Rihanna, Travi$ Scott, French Montana, Diddy, and more. How cool would it be if you were an up-and-coming artist like Tiller and all of those mainstream artists are at your concert. Pretty dope.

Thanks to Wally, I learned I can save my entire Snapchat Story. That’s HUGE. Not sure why I didn’t know that, so thank you again, Sar! Now I can upload onto YouTube and publish a whole video instead of me saving each one individually. #timesaver

Happy Monday, yinz! With it being the last full week of 2015, I’m going to do something a little different. Obviously this blog focuses on music, my life, celebrities, and all things digital so I’ll be compiling my top lists of all those topics. I look forward to sharing my favorites with yinz and welcome your faves, as well!

Today’s Serge’s Selections: 2015 Edition are my favorite albums that dropped this year. These are in no specific order because that would take me until December 2016 to do that. Check out my list below, and let me know what you think. Am I missing any of your favorites? Did I include an album you don’t like?

If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late – Drake

I remember exactly where I was when this surprise project dropped. It’s actually the same place I am right now – Agatay’s couch. It was right around Valentine’s Day, and I promise you I stopped what I was doing and just listened to the songs on repeat. Typical. As mentioned before, this was a complete surprise. After Beyonce dropped her surprise self-titled album, Beyonce last year, more and more artists have begun to take that approach. While I do like a good surprise, I do sort of like having a release date as that is something to look forward to. Anywho. IYRTITLput out some bangers and crowd pleasers for sure. Drake nailed it per usual.

What A Time To Be Alive – Drake & Future

Again, I remember where I was when this premiered, as well – in Agatay’s kitchen. The squad, Nick and Parker were over, and we sat around listening to the premiere on OVO Sound Radio and casually sipped some Coors Light. It was lit in the most chill way. Want to talk about bangers though? Listen to WATTBA. ‘Jumpman,’ ‘Big Rings,’ ‘The Plug’… are you kidding me? ‘Big Rings’ is my alarm in the morning because my team needs some really nice things. This project also made me like Future a lot more. Solid.

T R A P S O U L – Bryson Tiller

If you don’t know, now you know. Born in Kentucky and at the young age of only 22, Bryson Tiller is extremely talented, and T R A P S O U L is definitely one of my absolute favorite albums that came out this year. From the intro to the last song, the whole album flows perfectly. It truly lives up to its name – trap beats with a soul sound and flow. I highly suggest you get on the Tiller train.

Dark Sky Paradise – Big Sean

What can I say about this one? While I don’t post often about Big Sean, he is one of my favorite artists. He is a hardworker, gives a lot back to his hometown of Detroit, and can spit some legit rhymes and verses. Not to mention, he’s easy on the eye and has a beautiful smile – see below.

Dark Sky Paradise is another one that has so many hits. From ‘Blessings’ featuring Drake and Kanye to ‘I Don’t F*ck With You’, this is an album I have listened to on repeat multiple times. And we can’t forget about ‘One Man Can Change The World’ featuring John Legend and Kanye West. So so good and motivational – a very special song to Big Sean – it was written in memory of his late grandmother who he was quite close with.

Beauty Behind the Madness – The Weeknd

Cheers to the freaking Weeknd. He has grown so much as an artist and from the numerous articles I’ve read as a person, as well. I mean he used to never even do interviews, and now he’s selling out arenas and going on major city tours. It’s epic. I was lucky enough to see his BBTM tour this month actually with Parker. It was so incredible. Truly a show. This album has given us the very popular hits ‘The Hills’ and ‘Can’t Feel My Face,’ as well as the Fifty Shades of Grey theme song, ‘Earned It,’ which I actually can’t listen to anymore becuase every radio station overplayed it. Like most project of Abel’s, they are dark and filled with lyrics about drugs and sex. The songs on BBTM have more radio hits than his previous work. I love that this album has given him the recognition he deserves.

Rodeo – Travi$ Scott

Holy smokes. I’m listening to this album now actually! Current track: ‘90210.’ I was late to start listening to Travi$, but I am pretty freaking glad I do now. He has such a unique sound but also one that reminds me of Kanye. That could be because Kanye was one of the producers of Rodeo. I was looking forward to seeing Travi$ open for The Weeknd at the Madness Tour but unfortunately missed his performance – he was the opening act and only performed for about 20 minutes. #lame Oh well, I’m sure I’ll be attending another function where he’ll be performing! But yes, you should 100% listen to La Flame ( a nickname of his). It’s lit!

Royalty – Chris Brown

Yes, yes, and yes. Only released a couple weeks ago, I’ve been listening to Chris Brown’s seventh studio album on repeat. ‘Make Love,’ ‘Back to Sleep,’ and ‘Liquor’ are probably my top tracks. Yet again, C. Breezy puts out another legit project. The album is named after his daughter and even has a song dedicated to her. The music video for that is here. She is so cute and seeing them together in this music video is even cuter! I suggest you watch it and listen to the album. 🙂

For those Kendrick fans, yes I realize I didn’t include To Pimp a Butterfly. I just wasn’t able to get into that one. There are songs I love from that project, but not the album from beginning to end. And there are a few more days left in 2015, so if Drake happens to drop Views From the 6, you already know that would be added to this list.

That’s all for today’s Serge’s Selections: 2015 Edition. New list, new topics tomorrow!

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About Me

Hi, everyone! My name is Sara, but most of my friends call me Serge. Passionate of all things digital, I wanted to create an online space where I could share my California and Pittsburgh experiences and love for hip-hop music with you.

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